What do we want? Soft skills. When do we want them? Now!

Millennials and the newly formed Generation Z are a demanding bunch when it comes to L&D.

And rightly so.

They are supportive of a positive company culture, hungry for challenges and enthusiastic to develop. They are self-driven to be the best that they can be with an inner-motivation to learn.

Their approach to employment is different to that of Baby Boomers, Gen X and Y; brand loyalty isn’t a key factor. They will either work for one brand and in that time expect multiple promotions/roles or move on after a year to 18 months to lock down the next challenge in their career.

This powerful demographic has a strong expectancy – responsibility and fast progression, and opportunity to learn and develop their soft skills every step of the way.

Meeting expectation

LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning report confirmed soft skills are a priority for L&D teams this year. No doubt this focus will continue into 2019. Soft skills are in high demand to retain staff, propel performance and drive business growth; technical skills are less important given the rise in automation.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the world’s largest HR professional society, features in LinkedIn’s report stating “Soft skills – which are needed to effectively communicate, problem solve, collaborate and organise – are becoming more important for success…” It is typically these qualities that are sought for progression and promotion coupled with experience and subject matter knowledge.

So, demand from employer and employee meet with a common goal – the need for effective workplace training that develops people’s business, communication and collaboration, leadership and management skills.

Soft skills – digital delivery

Soft skills are best honed on the job, in-line with a person’s role. Needs can vary incredibly from appraisal preparation and self-esteem building, to handling difficult customers and leading a remote team.

With the largest demographic of UK workers always digitally plugged in, there is a greater expectation for training to be delivered online. Millennials are nearly three times as likely to watch a YouTube video compared to reading a book*. This suggests the traditional method of face-to-face training is somewhat outdated, unless delivered in a blended format.

L&D teams are under real pressure to offer a personalised, digital solution that meets this expectation, is available on-demand and accessible via all devices.

Video On-Demand

We work with several forward-thinking organisations who provide their staff with soft skills training at point of need, company-wide and/or on a team basis, across locations and/or for individuals in the field.

Our Video On-Demand resource improves business, communication and management skills with over 100 MP4 video recordings that capture our award-winning soft skills based webinars. Our webinars are delivered by one of our experts with recordings available 24/7, accessible via all devices. The recordings are easy to access, packed with varied subject matter and offer flexibility for learning “off-the-shelf”.

Video-based training helps today’s hungry workforce to learn on-the-job with the benefit of immediately translating what they have learnt into the context of their role. They build their knowledge, broaden their experiences and develop the soft skills they need to achieve and progress. This in-turn reduces staff attrition rates, creates an engaged company culture and improves business performance.

Give us a call or drop us a line if you’d like to discuss how we can help you.

*https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/data/millennial-marketing-trends-YouTube/